DESPERATE! What can i do about the bloody birds wake up call?????

[mad4mybaby]

ds1 is 2.9 and sleeps generally ok except the bloody birds keep waking him between 5-5.30 and ive really had enough. I had this problem last year and had to get on with it but this year i cant handle it esp as it will only get earlier when clocks go forward. i have a 16 week old who wakes about 4.30am for a feed so basically by the time ive finished and got him back into bed ds1 is waking up so my days are starting at 4.30 am!!! He doesnt nap anymore and i dont get any respite. Ive tried keeping a dull noise in his room(have a humidifier on all night due to asthma) and leaving bathroom light on as have a fan but nothing helps, the windows arent even open yet!! Please tell me there is something i can do other than move house?! I know you cant stop birds but the problem is they sit on the telegraph wire which is right by his window and at the back of the house (outside ds2 window) they sit on the fence/hedge. You can get plug in things to scare mice off other than a scarecrow or a gun, any ideas???

oh, I was going to suggest a scarecrow... or a cat?

you're gonna have to move house, aren't you

i suggested a cat (even a caged ferrel cat!!) to dh but he said that wouldnt help as the cat couldnt get up to the ones out front so birds would just torment it!

I'd like to shoot the buggers personally

but seeing as ds1 wakes from 5am regardless of the sodding birds i don't think there's much point!

Guess you'll have to hope the baby starts sleeping longer so your days can just start with a 5 instead of a 4.

I don't think you will have much success trying to silence the birds. I think you'd be better off teaching ds that 5am is too early to get up.

Maybe get him a light on a timer or one of those bunny alarm clocks and explain to him that until the light goes off / bunny wakes up he is not to get up. When he does, just calmly and boringly put him back in his bed, telling him it's not time yet.

Set small goals - our current time to get up is 6am. Before 6am we just don't entertain the idea of getting up. Nobody actually gets any sleep still because we just spend the first hour or so of the day insisting that it's not time to get up yet, but I am confident that it will eventually work ! I hope to gradually push it a little later.

Good luck Lawks!

We have tried 2 clocks, so far ds2 loves playing with one of them and we gave the other one to a friend.
the friend's DD uses it perfectly - will NOT get out of bed until Thomas wakes up, my ds1 ignored it totally (well other than climbing a very high shelf to play with it ).

those clocks seem to work better with girls....

no clock will stop him bellowing 'mummmmmyyyyy itsawake time' even with black outs!

Yes, our clock wasn't terribly successful either.

Me: ... and so DD you must stay in bed until Upsy Daisy wakes up!
DD: Look mummy, she's awake. Shall we get up?
Me: ...
DD: And now Iggle Piggle is asleep. Awake. Asleep. Awake. Asleep.

Mad4 - what do you do when he bellows?

i know!

my friend's dd will lie in her bad going 'mummeeeee, thomas isn't awake yet......!'

but hey she stays in bed. didn't work with ds1.

try anything, but expect nothing

heshouts 'muuuuuummmmy' over and over and then 'its awake time now' and if i ignore him he'l start screaming. i cant leave him as hewakes ds2

Have you tried a sticker chart to bribe persuade him to stay in bed until the lights come on?

We used to have fairy lights on a timer for DS (he was 2.5yrs) which came on at 6am and we gradually moved forward each night. Every time he stayed in bed and was quiet until the lights came on, he got a sticker.

It worked a treat after several months of crazily early wakings.

Since it's been getting light in the mornings again this year, we've been having the same early morning calls so the fairy lights/stickers are back and doing the trick again.

haven't tried lights on a timer, maybe worth a go.

have had a smiley face/sad face chart going for ages now. smiley face = chocolate button 'from grandma'.
still about 50.50,
we have phases when he has so many smileys that i think oh we don't need the chart anymore, then back to 5am again, grr.
(sorry hijacking slightly)